[ Building Bridges PSTN/IP decades to convert ]
Building Bridges
Moving telephone service onto the Internet will only work if intelligence can be shared across both networks. But connecting Circuitville to Packetland is proving to be a monumental task.
All the dignitaries and politicians were there, as they are at most bridge openings. There were brass bands, clowns and music. The bridge--designed to connect crowded Circuitville to the brave new world of Packetland--had been thrown up in record time. The idea was that many Circuitville residents would pack their belongings, drive across the bridge and begin new lives. Packetland would offer them more room, cheaper rents and, ultimately, a higher quality of life.
At first, everyone wanted to go. But almost as soon as the bands packed up their instruments and the politicians left to kiss babies elsewhere, settlers began noticing things they didn't like. The bridge toll booths, which had long been outfitted with automatic scanners in Circuitville, were manned in Packetland; it seemed to take forever for attendants to make change. There was no trash collection there. No streetlights. Supermarkets were often out of essentials by midmorning. It wasn't long before the settlers were bellyaching, wondering why they couldn't have the same amenities that people had on the other side of the bridge. The mayor pledged to work with Circuitville to import the necessary technology. It was a complicated job, he said, and he pleaded for patience, but the settlers were always in a hurry. "You call this progress?" they asked.
The lesson--that people are reluctant to live without things to which they have become accustomed, even if doing so would save them a little money--should be taken to heart by creators of packet-based telephone networks. Efforts are under way to give these networks the ability to burrow into the public switched telephone network (PSTN) and use its intelligent network (IN) and advanced intelligent network (AIN) abilities, such as caller ID, find me/follow me and last-number redial. The problem is that this is a complex, multilevel undertaking.
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